England 3-0 Australia (Beever-Jones 20’, Bronze 40’, Stanway 90+8 | Kennedy sent off 19’)
PRIDE PARK — Memories of a Swiss summer were swirling around the Lionesses’ first victory since the Euros when Michelle Agyemang reentered the fray. How quickly and cruelly it can all change.
Almost everything the 19-year-old has touched in her short England career so far has turned to goals. Agyemang must have come onto the pitch expecting a taste of more personal glory; she she left it on a stretcher, head in hands, crying out in pain. Beth Mead ran straight to the bench and pointed at her knee.
Before she was able to confirm the extent of the teenage striker’s injury, Sarina Wiegman could only confirm it “looked horrible”. Aggie Beever-Jones said she was “praying” for her.
“That was an awful moment,” Wiegman added. “It doesn’t look good. We don’t know yet, she first needs to be assessed, but I’m not very positive about what I’ve seen.”
It is all the more worrying because Agyemang has a history of knee injuries, initially hampering her breakthrough loan at Watford. Lianne Sanderson, the former England international, wrote on X: “This has to stop. Enough is enough.”
The toll of this international break cannot be justified. Four days ago, Olivia Smith was sent back to Arsenal with a hip injury sustained on Canada duty, leaving the field in tears. Mercifully, it is not as bad as it looks.
Brighton now sweat on news of Agyemang, who came on in the 62nd minute and off again in the 80th. The whole evening had been a no-contest from the 19th when Alanna Kennedy was sent off for hauling down Alessia Russo after a blundering Cruyff turn into trouble.
From then on, Beever-Jones’ free-kick, Lucy Bronze’s low drive and Georgia Stanway’s penalty ensured England could at least celebrate a proper homecoming after the defeat to Brazil. The irony is that Wiegman’s side ended with 10 players too, Beever-Jones’ late knock coming after all six subs had been used.
England had otherwise waltzed past the Matildas – 29 shots to three, 70 per cent possession, 48 touches in the opposition box to Australia’s 13. This was not the test Wiegman wanted, but it was a rare chance to experiment. Lucia Kendall was superb on debut alongside Keira Walsh. A former Hampshire cricketer, now it is nearly Ashes season she might have expected a bit more of a fight from the Australian midfield.
The friendlies against China and Ghana before the turn of the year could bring yet more changes but come with an asterisk. Agyemang’s injury was so frightening precisely because she seemed so invincible just months ago.
The splendid volley with her first international touch against Belgium, her late rescue acts against Sweden and Italy, without which England would never have gone back-to-back. Had Arsenal not been overloaded with attacking options – including Lionesses rival Russo – this might well have been her breakthrough season in north London too, before she was loaned out to Brighton again.
It is now a campaign riddled with uncertainty.
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